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Jan Huygen van Linschoten (1563 – 1611) was a Dutch spy, merchant, traveller and writer.
He travelled extensively along the East Indies regions under Portuguese influence and served as the archbishop's secretary in Goa between 1583 and 1588. He is credited with publishing in Europe important classified information about Asian trade and navigation that was hidden by the Portuguese. In 1596, he published a book, Itinerario, which graphically displayed for the first time in Europe detailed maps of voyages to the East Indies, particularly India.
He kept an extensive diary. One observation was his description of a beverage brought in from China:
“The aforesaid warme water is made with the poder of a certaine hearbe called Chaa.”
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Detach from the laws of detachment to detach from detachment. Embrace it.
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Omar Khayyam Mausoleum, Neyshabur, Iran
Omar Khayyam, best known for his poetry Rubáiyát, was a Persian polymath learned in the ways of astronomy, philosophy, and mathematics. Born in the ancient city of Nishapur, he died in 1131 at 83 and was buried in his hometown.
The poet’s tomb survived the test of time through Mongol invasions and natural disasters, developing into part of a shrine. In 1934, the Iranian government under the Pahlavi dynasty commissioned the reconstruction of his mausoleum, which would be completed 31 years later.
Designed by the architect Hooshang Seyhoun, the new Omar Khayyam Mausoleum is an outstanding beauty many consider a masterpiece of modern Persian architecture. A large marble monument standing in a serene garden, it is decorated with verses from Rubáiyát written in the taʿlīq script, glowing in an oasitic blue shade.
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“It is better to restore one dead heart to eternal life than to restore to life a thousand dead bodies.” — Annemarie Schimmel (1922 - 2003), in "Mystical Dimensions Of Islam"
Related: “The Secrets of Creative Love: The Work of Muhammad Iqbal”, by Prof. Annemarie Schimmel
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A section of Metempsychosis (1923) - by Yokoyama Taikan;
a drop of water from the vapours in the sky transforms into a mountain stream, which flows into a great river and on into the sea, whence rises a dragon (pictured) that turns back to vapour
Dragon and Clouds - by Yokoyama Taikan
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"Nothing outside yourself can cause you any trouble. You yourself make the waves in your mind. If you leave your mind as it is, it will become calm." - Shunryu Suzuki
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It takes a community to raise a child.
Go and try bend a grown up tree. Change starts with the young.
LOVE is the central mystery
Inspired by this interview with a Cop in Trinidad
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"I don't think computing is a real field - it acts like a pop culture. It deals in fads and it doesn't even know its own roots." - Alan Kay
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Colonial Biopolitics and the Great Bengal Famine of 1943
An estimated 3 million people died due to the Bengal famine of 1943. The purpose of this article is to theorize the Bengal famine through the lens of colonial biopolitics. The colonial strategies and utilitarian principles by the British authorities exacerbated the Bengal famine.
"I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion. The famine was their own fault for breeding like rabbits." –Winston Churchill
The Non-Existent Trial of British War Criminal and Monster Frederick Lindemann
Churchill and his sidekick Lindemann were monsters of the worst kind. No charges were brought and their crimes were ignored.
